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World Socialists Whine about Flat Tax Revolution

I almost feel sorry for hard-core leftists. First, they had to endure the agony of watching the Berlin Wall crumble and the Soviet Union break apart. As depressing as that must have been, they now must be horrified that former communist nations are leading the shift to pro-market flat tax systems. But their angst is my joy. I was greatly amused to read this account from the World Socialist Web Site:

The government of Albania has agreed on a standard tax rate (flat tax) of 10 percent aimed at outdoing its East European rivals and attracting international investors. The government in Tirana is determined to transform the impoverished Balkan state into a haven for multinational companies and western speculators. From the start of next year, corporate taxes will be reduced from 20 to just 10 percent. The basic rate of income tax, which amounted to 5 percent for average incomes and a maximum of 25 percent for top earners, had already been changed to a uniform rate of 10 percent for all incomes on August 1. … Measures aimed at massive tax relief for business and the rich are not specific to Albania. It is the result of a vicious competition between states in both the East and West of Europe aimed at creating the best possible conditions for foreign speculators and the wealthy. In the so-called “first round” in the 1990s, the Baltic states began to drastically lower company and income taxes, introducing tax rates of between 25 and 29 percent. These states—with the exception of some “Special Economic Zones”—suffered a loss of interest from foreign enterprises concerned that tax rates were still too high. The “second round” of cuts was initiated by Russia in 2001. Serbia followed in 2003 with the introduction of a flat tax of 14 percent. In 2005 Ukraine, Slovakia, Georgia, and Romania followed suit. The “new round” has now begun with tax reductions in the Czech Republic and Albania. Plans for further radical tax reductions are currently in discussion in Bulgaria, Croatia, and other states.